The Comparison of Lysander with Sylla   

Having completed this Life also, come we now to the comparison. That
which was common to them both was that they were founders of their
own greatness, with this difference, that Lysander had the consent
of his fellow-citizens, in times of sober judgment, for the honours
he received; nor did he force anything from them against their good-will,
nor hold any power contrary to the laws.
"In civil strife e'en villains rise to fame." And so then at Rome,
when the people were distempered, and the government out of order,
one or other was still raised to despotic power; no wonder, then,
if Sylla reigned, when the Glauciae and Saturnini drove out the Metelli,
when sons of consuls were slain in the assemblies, when silver and
gold purchased men and arms, and fire and sword enacted new laws and
put down lawful opposition. Nor do I blame any one, in such circumstances,
for working himself into supreme power, only I would not have it thought
a sign of great goodness to be head of a state so wretchedly discomposed.
Lysander, being employed in the greatest commands and affairs of state,
by a sober and well-governed city, may be said to have had repute
as the best and most virtuous man, in the best and most virtuous commonwealth.
And thus, often returning the government into the hands of the citizens,
he received it again as often, the superiority of his merit still
awarding him the first place. Sylla, on the other hand, when he had
once made himself general of an army, kept his command for ten years
together, creating himself sometimes consul, sometimes proconsul,
and sometimes dictator, but always remaining a tyrant.
It is true Lysander, as was said, designed to introduce a new form
of government; by milder methods, however, and more agreeable to law
than Sylla, not by force of arms, but persuasion, nor by subverting
the whole state at once, but simply by amending the succession of
the kings; in a way, moreover, which seemed the naturally just one,
that the most deserving should rule, especially in a city which itself
exercised command in Greece, upon account of virtue, not nobility.
For as the hunter considers the whelp itself, not the bitch, and the
horsedealer the foal, not the mare (for what if the foal should prove
a mule?), so likewise were that politician extremely out, who, in
the choice of a chief magistrate, should inquire, not what the man
is, but how descended. The very Spartans themselves have deposed several
of their kings for want of kingly virtues, as degenerated and good
for nothing. As a vicious nature, though of an ancient stock, is dishonourable,
it must be virtue itself, and not birth, that makes virtue honourable.
Furthermore, the one committed his acts of injustice for the sake
of his friends; the other extended his to his friends themselves.
It is confessed on all hands, that Lysander offended most commonly
for the sake of his companions, committing several slaughters to uphold
their power and dominion; but as for Sylla, he, out of envy, reduced
Pompey's command by land and Dolabella's by sea, although he himself
had given them those places; and ordered Lucretius Ofella, who sued
for the consulship as the reward of many great services, to be slain
before his eyes, exciting horror and alarm in the minds of all men,
by his cruelty to his dearest friends.
As regards the pursuit of riches and pleasures, we yet further discover
in one a princely, in the other a tyrannical, disposition. Lysander
did nothing that was intemperate or licentious, in that full command
of means and opportunity, but kept clear, as much as ever man did,
of that trite saying-
"Lions at home, but foxes out of doors;" and ever maintained a sober,
truly Spartan, and well-disciplined course of conduct. Whereas Sylla
could never moderate his unruly affections, either by poverty when
young, or by years when grown old, but would be still prescribing
laws to the citizens concerning chastity and sobriety, himself living
all that time, as Sallust affirms, in lewdness and adultery. By these
ways he so improverished and drained the city of her treasures, as
to be forced to sell privileges and immunities to allied and friendly
cities for money, although he daily gave up the wealthiest and the